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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2009744" data-attributes="member: 172">Scarred Lands Gazetteer: TermanaThe Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Termana is a rough overview of the continent of Termana, an additional continent you can use as a homeland or stomping ground for your Scarred Lands campaign. Unlike the first Scarred Land Gazetteer for Ghelspad, the Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Termana is actually a d20 branded product with some rules material in it.A First LookScarred Lands Gazetteer: Termana is a 48 page saddle-stitched softcover book priced at $10.95. The interior text is fairly dense, making this book a good value.The front cover of the book has a miniaturized version of the map of Termana; the book also includes a poster size fold-out map of the same. The cartography is by Rich Thomas, and the map is very similar in style to the ever-popular Ghelspad poster map.The interior art is by Tim Truman. The art is less abstract than some of the grainy looking pieces that appear in earlier Scarred Lands titles, and is generally better than the art that appeared in the Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Ghelspad.A Deeper LookThe Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Termana describes the history of Termana, as well as summarizing the major nations of Termana and the topographical features and other peoples.The book is written from the viewpoints of two explorers who experienced various section of Termana: the half-elf sorceress Nabila and Diaglo, an amorous rogue with the hots for his forsaken elf guide (and for that matter, just about any other female in the setting he runs across). The book's writing style is both entertaining and informative, delivering an entertaining and inspiring story along with some salient details about the various locales of the setting.Termana is a somewhat horseshoe shaped continent, with a major bay extending from the north edge into the heart of the continent. Generally speaking, the northwestern edge of the continent is inhabited by human nations, the northeast primarily by forsaken elves. South of the forsaken elf nations in the east is the Charduni Empire. The southern edge of the continent is less civilized, with jungles and deserts inhabited by primitive tribes, gnomes, and leopard people.The back of the book and introduction promises a different experience with Termana than you got with Ghelspad. This concerned me at first, because Ghelpad is the Scarred Lands to me, and I didn't want something totally new. Alas, Termana is very much a part of the Scarred Lands, and it expounds on some details of the history of the Scarred Lands. For example, the Blood Bayou is here, and the book amplifies on the history of the Carnival of Shadows, and the history and details of the Forsaken Elves are well expounded upon, including the fate of the demised deity of the elves.To wit, during the divine war, the elven deity was betrayed and slain by his Herald, who had been corrupted by Chern. The elves, however, had mighty magic at their command and bested the titan without their lord. However, most of the elves were cursed to become the forsaken elves, mere shadows of what they once were, unable to breed true. As such, they were relegated to capturing humans to breed with, by a number of means, none of them too nice.Some high elves did survive, however. The high elves of the Citadel of the Rose trapped a number of demonic servants of the titans on the island called the Eternal Isle, on which their citadel lies. The Eternal Isle is warded against any entry or exit. The book states that the creatures trapped on the Eternal Isle are very horrific indeed, and woe betide Scarn should they ever be freed. It is said that within the wards that protect the isle, the demons and the elves of the Citadel of the Rose still war.There is a short section at the end with d20 system rules material. It provides statistics for the races of Termana. This includes statistics for human racial modifiers for those humans who give up their starting bonus feat, in the same fashion as the Scarred Lands GM screen. It also introduces racial statistics for the Jungle Gnomes of Termana, as well as gnolls and Terlai (leopard people).ConclusionScarred Lands Gazetteer: Termana was a very good read and sounds like an interesting place to set some adventures. Termana doesn't seem like quite the potpourri of exotic places that Ghelspad is, but it seems as if the nations and locales described for Termana fit together better, and would be a good location for more intrigue-based games.The idea of the Carnival of Shadows and Forsaken Elves didn't catch on with me when I was first introduced to them. However, the story of the Blood Bayou and the interesting variety of Forsaken Elf nations were interesting and informative enough that I am actually warming up to the concepts as having real potential in a game.-Alan D. Kohler</blockquote>

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